The Winter's Tale

Arkangel Shakespeare

De: William Shakespeare

Narrado por: Sinead Cusack, Ciaran Hinda, Eileen Atkins, Paul Jesson, Sir John Gielgud

King Leontes of Sicilia is seized by sudden and terrible jealousy of his wife Hermione, whom he accuses of adultery. He believes the child Hermione is bearing was fathered by his friend Polixenes, and when the baby girl is born he orders her to be taken to some wild place and left to die. Though Hermione's child escapes death, Leontes' cruelty has terrible consequences. Loss paves the way for reunion, and life and hope are born out of desolation and despair.

One of the late romances in Shakespeare's canon, this complex work is at times tragic, at times humorous, but always entertaining and enlightening.

Sinead Cusack plays Hermione, and Ciaran Hinda plays Leontes. Eileen Atkins is Paulina and Paul Jesson is Polixenes. Time the Chorus is played by Sir John Gielgud.

Public Domain (P)2014 Blackstone Audio

What's not to enjoy?

If you could sum up The Winter's Tale in three words, what would they be?

A world class audio performance of a seldom performed work by The Bard.

What did you like best about this story?

The pacing throughout the work was excellent. Yes, this has undoubtedly been edited, but most performances of Shakespeare are trimmed for the stage as well.

Which character – as performed by the narrators – was your favorite?

The interplay between Gielgud and Cusack is very good. The entire ensemble is very well cast.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

An excellent choice for a broad audio library!

Felt Like Two Different Plays

I liked the play format and the narration was good. I also really enjoyed the first part of the play; the King's madness is quite evident in this portrayal. I found that part of the story very interesting and captivating.

Then we got to the last half of the play and I could not have been more bored. I don't know if it was the story line or the old language, but I didn't know what they were talking about some of the time nor did I care.

I rate the first half of the play a 4 and the second half a 2, for an overall rating of 3.

Entertaining and delightful

I listened to the Arkangel audio while reading the play in E Book format from Delphi Complete Works of William Shakespeare. According to the Delphi book the main plot of the play was taken from a pastoral romance – Pandosto by Robert Greene p. in 1588. This is known as a Comedy although the first half of the play resembles more of a tragedy as two Kings who are friends find themselves at odds, one King (Leontes) falsely accuses the other (Polixenes) as having sired a child with his wife. Polixenes flees for his own Kingdom and when Leontes is proven wrong the harm has already been done. Years past and we find ourselves now in Polixenes country and this is where the most enjoyable scenes of the play take place. The music and songs are delightful and we even have a rogue for this one, very entertaining indeed. I don't know where the title comes from as it actually has nothing in common with the work but all the same it was a flawless, entertaining play. A full cast performance and they were brilliant.

a delightful listen

The interludes of music between scenes, and to denote a change of time and place were spot on. It’s an easy and engaging listen, the clarity of text and story adds to this immensely. Something nice to study in a classroom or for one’s own personal use. Enjoy!

A Snapper-Up of Unconsidered Trifles

Thus does Autolycus, the quick-witted and even quicker-tongued rouge of this play, describe himself. And sometimes the same words apply to me.

Before I joined Audible as a full-fledged member, the sales and Daily Deals loomed rather largely in my life. I’d snap up books that “looked good” or that I knew would be “good for me”. Thus I have in my library War and Peace (granted, no trifle; I have yet to embark upon), Brave New World (which I enjoyed as far as a nightmare can be enjoyed) and Gulliver’s Travels (which I loathed). And, since December of 2014, I’ve had The Winter’s Tale.

After all, it’s Shakespeare, right? Shakespeare is good and good for you, right? And it was only $1.95, if I remember. Yet it languished on my digital shelf for coming on two and a half years. Only when our local (free) Shakespeare Festival chose Winter’s Tale as this summer’s offering did I dig it out and listen.

All my objections that had kept me from listening quickly fell away. I thought it would be hard to distinguish the characters without seeing them on stage. Wrong. I feared the plot—in a play such as this, complex, quick, fanciful—would leave me far behind, panting to catch up. Not a problem. I even suspected the acting would be hammy. Quite the opposite.

This is a superb production, superbly done. I hadn’t read the play since high school so the story (really a fairy tale) was completely fresh. Somehow Shakespeare managed to take an utterly implausible story (even when reading the scene, I can’t tell from whence Leontes’ baseless suspicions of his wife spring) and make it into something that made me laugh and, yes, even drop a tear.